Meros gives keynote address on Overseas Agricultural Investment and its Potential Application in the Japanese Agricultural Investment

Meros' Managing Director Chisa Ogura delivered the keynote address on "Overseas Agricultural Investment and its Potential Application in Japanese Agricultural Investment" – a webinar organized by Nishimura & Asahi Law Firm (Tokyo) on April 15, 2021.

Nishimura & Asahi is one of the largest full-service law firms in Japan, with over 700 lawyers, foreign attorneys and other professionals. In response to the growing number of major corporations and institutional investors investing in the agricultural sector, N&A has established an Agri-Food Legal Practice Team to provide specialized legal support for the agricultural sector. Yesterday’s webinar was a chance to bring together corporation and investors to understand more deeply about agricultural investing.

In addition to Chisa Ogura’s address, there was a lively panel discussion between Ms Ogura, Katsumi Sugiura and Takuya Ogawa from the Development Bank of Japan Inc (DBJ) and Hideki Katagiri and Yasunari Sugiyama from Nishimura & Asahi.

Some of the highlights included:

• Chisa Ogura, Managing Director at Meros Consulting provided an overview of the global agricultural investment space with a special focus of the implications of SDGs, EGS and impact investing. Ms. Ogura will also elaborate on the opportunities such funds present to investors and will highlight the key trends in agricultural investment in Japan.
• Katsumi Sugiura and Takuya Ogawa from the Development Bank of Japan Inc (DBJ) discussed their recent experience in investing in overseas agricultural investment funds and emphasize some practical points regarding the process they undertook together with the support of Meros consultants. In 2020, DBJ became the first Asian investor to invest in Equilibrium Capital’s Controlled Environment Foods Fund II, which invests in assets towards sustainable agriculture in North America. For more, see  The Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) first Asian investor into US-based Equilibrium’s Agriculture Impact Fund
• Nishimura & Asahi Team provided an overview of the legal aspects of investing in overseas agricultural funds and propose business models for cooperation among players interested in agricultural investments, within the Japanese regulatory environment.